Math team on a winning streak

SOMERSET — People often hear about impressive winning streaks in sports. But Somerset Middle School has a winning streak going that students, teachers and principals are proud of.

George Austin

SOMERSET — People often hear about impressive winning streaks in sports. But Somerset Middle School has a winning streak going that students, teachers and principals are proud of.

The mathematics team at the middle school has won seven Massasoit League math meets in a row. In each meet, the team is competing against several other schools from around the area. Only two meets are held a year, so the middle school team has been taking home the trophies for the past four years with a new group of eighth grade students on the team each year.

The most recent first place finish for the Somerset Middle School mathematics team was on Jan. 25 at Dighton Middle School. The Somerset team beat teams from Swansea, Dighton, Norton, Raynham, Rehoboth and Seekonk.

"Just about the whole team stays after school on a weekly basis and they do a lot of practice questions," said math team advisor Diane Diogo when asked why the students have been so successful in the competitions.

When they are preparing for the meets, Ms. Diogo said she gives the students time limits to get practice questions done so they will be used to the pressure of the meets. In the most recent meet, students took a written test on number theory, fractions, decimals, word problems, integers, exponents, equations and absolute value.

Cameron Filipe, who was on the winning mathematics team at Somerset Middle School last year, sent a text to members of this year's team the day of the meet to wish the students luck in the competition.

"So they kind of have big shoes every year to keep in scoring range," Ms. Diogo said. "They work hard."

"We become closer because we develop this friendship because we help each other all the time," Levesque said.

While Somerset took first place in the team competition, there were also some individual awards, as well. Bruce had the highest score in the math meet, Levesque came in second place and Gagliardi and Giasson were in a three-way tie for third place with Megan Alves of Dighton.

"It's mainly because of Mrs. Diogo," Bruce said of why she did so well in the math meet. "She's a really good teacher."

Ms. Diogo has been the one constant on the team during the winning streak.

The team will compete in another Massasoit League meet this spring.

Bruce said she likes math and enjoys being on the team.

"You work really hard toward something and you get to see the result and you get to work with a bunch of people you're friends with," Bruce said.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.